Why now?

[Jeri]

I have lived in Costa Rica now for 9 years. I love to bird watch and have documented all the birds I've seen on my property. Recently I have seen these huge, LOUD, birds that fly over in the early morning and late afternoon. I think they are scarlet macaws. There are 6 of them. Does anyone have one of these as a pet? There must be something around here they are eating. I know they like fruit, but are they particular about what fruits and flowers they eat. I'm trying to figure out why they have suddenly shown up here for the first time in 9 years. You can't miss them, they are very noisy flyers.249249

[aliray]

Oh lucky you . they are beautiful . I would love to see them in the wild. There are lots of macaw owners on the forum. that would probably have info for you. In the meantime welcome to the forum and I would love to hear about the other birds in you backyard

[Dulphinz]

Wow! Those are some beautiful birds! You are very lucky.

[Brodie]

I wish I could look outside to this everyday! :(

[keepsmiling]

Yes, those are scarlets. Interesting the one on the left looks so ratty. I hope they don't have a disease running through the flock.

[plax]

Aside from a couple of small areas of down showing through on the Macaw to the left in the image, it really doesn't look that "ratty" to me. In fact, if you enlarge the image and examine the bird closely you'll notice that there are some things about it which are different from a typical Scarlet Macaw. Its chest is speckled with yellow feathers and it has feather stripes on its facial skin patches as that of a Green-wing Macaw, I'm unsure whether it's a natural hybrid of some type or if perhaps it's a genetic mutation. In either case it's quite interesting to see :)

[Blancaej]

Tony - That is what I was thinking. The one on the left looks like a natural hybrid. The one on the right looks like a normal scarlet. Great photos. Enjoy them while you can. What a beautiful sight to see out your window!

[jtbirds]

Tony I have t agree with you it looks like a natural hybrid which does happen even though many argue it doesn't! Almost like it is a shamrock macaw(scarlet x military)... It is very odd and beautiful very nice photo. The other is defiantly a scarlet and a very beautiful one at that.